She had the audacity to stand there looking at him coolly, as though she’d never shuddered to completion in his arms, while Hal felt as though he were burning up from the inside out.It was intolerable.
All of that mixed with his chagrin at not being the one to see what his people needed and provide it, when that was all he was meant to be focused on, and every muscle in Hal’s body tightened as if in readiness for a brawl.Pulling her to the side, away from the party, Hal struggled to keep his grasp on his temper.
“What were you thinking?”he snarled at Gemma, hating himself for the way her eyes widened and the shimmer of hurt she wasn’t quick enough to hide.But he couldn’t stop himself from barreling on.“The Five Mile can’t afford a spread like this.At this rate, you’ll have run through the entire year’s budget before May Day!And I know you won’t care because you won’t be here to see it, but I thought you had more of a heart, moresense, than to be so frivolous with the future of this place.But I suppose it would be too much to ask that you forego the parties and revelries you’re so accustomed to.”
Eyes flashing dark blue sparks, Gemma lifted her dimpled chin and stared him down.“You seem to have forgotten who is the owner of Five Mile House, and who is the employee.I don’t answer to you, Mr.Deveril.And if I want to squander every penny in the coffers on parties and revelries, there is not one single solitary thing you can do to stop me.”
Turning on her heel, she swept out of the taproom and into the darkening dusky of the courtyard, her furious strides kicking her skirts out in a foaming froth of gray-blue silk.
An open-handed smack to the side of his head had Hal cursing and whirling to face his attacker, spoiling for an outlet to release the roiling emotions in his chest, but he found himself staring into the honey brown eyes of his oldest friend.
Bess glared at him.“You’re going to regret that.”
Already beginning to, Hal glanced at the door through which Gemma had disappeared.“I thought I’d made her understand that Five Mile House is in a precarious position.All this food must have cost a small fortune.”
“Most of this food was brought here by the guests,” Bess informed him smartly, her usually smooth movements jerky with annoyance as she filled glass after glass of ale for the revelers.
Lead lined the inside of Hal’s stomach as he began to comprehend the magnitude of his error.
“Mrs.Mulgrave brought her scones,” Bess continued, showing no mercy.“My cousin Flora made ginger biscuits.Mrs.Cartwright brought her lovely curry.Those crocks of pickles and preserves are from Mr.Prince’s own stores.Mrs.Pettigrew contributed a leg of ham they’d been saving.The Five Mile is only providing a place to gather, as we always do, and the roast and the drinks.Which is an expense, certainly, but one that I consider well worth it when I look about me and see the happiness all around.”
Hal didn’t have to look about—he could feel the palpable lightening of spirits as worries and cares melted away in the warm camaraderie filling the air.Work would still be there, in the morning.But perhaps the load would be a bit lighter for having taken this time to set it aside and remember what it was all for.
Across the taproom, sitting with his laughing wife, Khair, Mr.Cartwright raised a half-full mug of cider and toasted Hal.
“It’s almost as I remember it,” he murmured.“From when we were children.”
It was everything Hal had wanted.And he hadn’t been able to make it happen.
Instead, it had been Gemma, this outsider who didn’t know their customs and had no reason to learn because she couldn’t wait to leave and never come back—she was the one who had brought joy and fun back to Little Kissington.
Surveying the taproom with quiet satisfaction in the lull between people approaching the bar for cider, Bess said, “She did a good thing, Hal.Went door to door herself, inviting everyone in town and on the farms, organizing the lot once they started turning up with their little offerings.No matter what they came with, from that Christmas ham the Pettigrews parted with to the basket of walnuts little Esther Hopsgood brought, Gemma exclaimed over each one and thanked every single person, as gracious as a queen but with no queenly airs.She made them feel special, and needed, and appreciated.”
Her voice turned cold, with a chill he’d almost never heard from the girl who’d grown up at his side, running wild and barefoot through the woods.Hal felt the freeze all the way to his bones.
“And then you turned up, and made certain Gemma felt not one bit of the happiness she helped to create.”
The truth crashed down on Hal like a felled tree.He felt sick.“I didn’t know.”
“You didn’t ask.”
He hung his head, hating himself.“You’re right.I’ll go and apologize.”
“Good.”Bess surveyed him critically.“And while you’re at it, you ought to tell her who you really are.”
Hal’s head shot up.“No.I can’t do that, Bess.Don’t ask it of me.”
“Why not?Gemma is a good person.I don’t like lying to her like this.It’s wrong.It’s beneath you, Hal.”
God.No one but Bess would speak to him this way.Hal clenched his teeth against the anger that wanted to come, forcing himself to listen to the woman who was like a sister to him.“I know.Believe me, I don’t like it either.But I’ve trapped us all in this stupid lie, and I don’t see a way out of it that won’t leave Gemma furious and hurt.”
“She’s furious and hurt right now,” Bess pointed out, and Hal grimaced.
“Yes.But I can throw myself on her mercy and be forgiven for an asinine assumption.The other, this deception—it’s unforgiveable.”
Bess was silent for a moment.“There is very little that is unforgiveable between two people who care for one another.”
The words pierced Hal through, sliding in softly, almost gently, and bringing a searing pain that he didn’t know how to contain.
